Please use the comments to demonstrate your own ignorance, unfamiliarity with empirical data and lack of respect for scientific knowledge. Be sure to create straw men and argue against things I have neither said nor implied. If you could repeat previously discredited memes or steer the conversation into irrelevant, off topic discussions, it would be appreciated. Lastly, kindly forgo all civility in your discourse . . . you are, after all, anonymous.

59 Responses to “Afternoon Reads”

“The timing was awkward. The government shut down $4.7 billion-asset Park National on the same day that its community development arm, Park National Bank Initiatives, received $50 million from Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner at a ceremony in Chicago. That money is intended to stimulate investment in low-income communities on such projects as charter schools, health clinics and stores.”

“Not everyone thinks so. Mr. Grayson joins colleagues like Michele Bachmann, Republican of Minnesota; Pete Stark, Democrat of California; and Joe Wilson, Republican of South Carolina, in what the decorum-minded see as a bipartisan playpen reserved for political problem children. So for party leaders, the behavior often forces a question: Do you cheer, or wince, or both?”

Bachmann is a halfwit, Stark is likely a crook, and Wilson has a problem with pigmentation. Herszenhorn’s grouping is stupid. He was told what to write and he wrote it.

Grayson is a right about Cheney. What most aren’t getting about Grayson is that he is enjoying this.

” . . .being the lender of last resort, the government should have guaranteed we’d [taxpayers] be the first to get paid if CIT eventually filed Chapter 11. By failing to do so, “it’s like he [Geithner] burned billions of dollars again in government money, our money, gratuitously,” says Black.

Black believes the problem stems from regulators’ fears that if the banks recognize a loss on the bad assets it will create a domino effect that will wipe out the entire financial system.

If that’s true we’ve got to get rid of capitalism,” he warns, “because if we can’t recognize losses in a capitalist system we have no future.”

so . . .recognize profits but never recognize losses- no matter how long it may take-

“The primary difference between Japan and the United States at this point of their respective monetary malaises is that whereas Japan created a nation of zombie corporations, the United States is creating a nation of zombie households.”

Ahab, so the $2.3 billion taxpayer contribution is wiped out and Goldman Sach’s negotiated a “less good” agreement with CIT because originally they stood to gain $1 billion if CIT filed for bankruptcy.

You don’t suppose Geithner’s original acceptance of a junior position was influenced by Goldman Sacks?

“So far, though, the signals are mixed. U.S. exports rose an inflation-adjusted 14.7% in the third quarter, their best performance in two years, but the gain was more than wiped out by a 16.4% increase in imports as American consumers bought more from abroad. Businesses boosted their spending on equipment and software by 1.1%, but overall business investment fell 2.5%, dragged down by a flagging commercial-real-estate market.

“We don’t think the kind of pillars are there for a strong recovery,” said Zach Pandl, an economist at Nomura Securities.

Historically, business investment has rarely led U.S. expansions, in part because it makes up only about a tenth of the economy, compared with more than two-thirds from consumer spending. It made the primary contribution to GDP growth in only two of the past six recoveries. The first of those, in 1980 and 1981, lasted only one year. Exports, which make up about 11% of the economy, haven’t made the biggest contribution to any U.S. recovery in at least 40 years.

Some, though, still believe this time can be different, in part because China and other developing countries have kept growing at a strong pace. “There is considerable scope for export growth,” said Eric Lascelles, chief economics and rates strategist for TD Securities. “A lot of people are banking on the U.S. recovery not being driven so much by consumers but by exports.”

Regarding the story of the Iranian student who confronted Khamenei, one thing that struck me about it was the obvious weakness of the regime’s figurehead- a psychological weakness. Quite simply, he fled- and failed in his role as High Priest: “The prayer that Khamenei was scheduled to lead at the end of the ceremony did not occur amid his hasty departure.”

The tea leaf readers* should mull over this one.

*Or those who read the grounds of a stiff cup of Turkish coffee.

Maybe someone gave quiet voice to this in a prayerful tone:

“Joy’s certain path, oh Saki, thou hast shown–
Long may thy cup be full, thy days be fair!
Trouble and sickness from my breast have flown,
Order and health thy wisdom marshals there.
Not one that numbered Hafiz’ name among
The great-unnumbered were his tears, unsung;
Praise him that sets an end to endless care!”- Hafiz

I have a yellow lab. All labs love to eat. This one certainly does. The time change today has brought about a lot of serious looks. My wife has determined to feed her an hour later, so that it will be the same time as our daily routine. This has, however, brought about some very serious staring and moaning for the last 30 minutes from our dog. It is as though she is trying to send a mental message to us who have obviously lost our minds and forgotten about feeding time. We have also been on the path to the food bowl and back many times, but again the idiot humans seem to have broken down in some sort of paralysis. If you could see anxiety in a dog, this is it…

Yesterday, I linked to an anonymous blogger/Goldman apologist who wrote that Tavakoli “has always been more bark than bite. Being provocative is part of her shtick.”

Janet has since written a further analysis of the Goldman-AIG situation. She not only has bit, and pretty much tore the Goldman apologist’s leg off, but she is glowering at Goldman so fiercely that if I were Goldman I really wouldn’t move in her direction, and I would really keep my mouth shut and try to get the same out of Goldman apologists. Goldman should consider itself lucky that she is only arguing that:…”http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2009/11/analyst-calls-for-general-fraud-audit.html
~~
“…As PhD economist Craig Pirrong makes clear, all of the talk of “reform” and “regulation” coming out of Washington is just for show (without any substance), to appease the populist anger:

Rather than a serious effort to address systemic risk, this [proposal on bank oversight] seems to be populist boob bait, a response to popular outrage against taxpayer banking bailouts, rather than a serious attempt to address TBTF. Not a surprise, and quite understandable, but not a major improvement of incentives.
Indeed, a 725-word story from Harper’s proves (again) that Congress is trying to fool the American people:…”http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2009/10/congress-we-cant-help-american-public.html

@Bruce 5:09. Randy Newman wrote a musical some years ago called “Faust” (I suspect you can guess what it’s about). He used the word “aborning” in one of the song lyrics, and nobody in the audience knew what it meant, so rather than change it, he had the character stop the song, explain what it meant, then continue.

@Bruce: My own dog (a mystery mutt from the dog shelter in Spanish Harlem) is so obsessed with eating, she starts staring us down for her dinner in the early afternoon, almost EVERY day, especially if her pal Wilson (the golden retriever we care for from time to time when our neighbor goes away, which is often) is around. She has to compete with him over everything, but is especially intense about food because he used to steal her treats when she was a youngster. We thinks she’s got a little border collie in her, hence the neurotic intensity over food and other things.

The Goldman attempt to purchase tax credits from Fannie just floors me. Chutzpah and hubris, Goldman, it is you.

Here’s the deal: Goldman, that has now a massive tax liability to the government because of how cleverly they were able to manipulate the government during the crisis that they not only survived, but prospered (at Tiny Taxpayer’s risk, but nevermind that for now) graciously wants to purchase tax credits from a company that is under government “conservatorship”, i.e., that is, in effect a part of the government. This would allow them to pay less than full dollar for taxes by agreeing to a sham accounting transaction, where the government, i.e., the entity that collects taxes, effectively sells to Goldman a decreased tax liability (if the credit is bought at a discount) and receives NOTHING in return. (A credit for taxes owned by the entity that collects them is effectively meaningless.)

Everyday I get more cynical, and then get up the next day to realize that I haven’t been cynical enough.

@Curmudgeon: This last grab for the spoiled meat on the carcas that is the U.S. will go on by Wall Street until their is overt violence. I’m sure of it now. Not advocating it by any means, but I’m pretty sure this is going to happen at some point. Might take longer than some of us think, but that’s the path we’re on.

CNBCsucks, I have no idea what a ‘British Schumpeterian progressive’ might be but I hope I can’t be described as such. Sounds like a tory in a moated mansion pretending to be a streetwise hetreodox economist.

Mudge, all empires in history have been created by expropriation of the wealth of others. These days it’s called exporting inflation, and can be achieved by military, monetary, and political means. The inevitable inflationary exit is called, giving back what was taken, and should not be overly lamented.

Ratigan has it right on Geithner- by extension it shows excessively poor judgement by Obama who has now demonstrated to all Americans- outside of his skill to read a teleprompter- that he is an empty suit

O’B should have dumped Turbo Timmy and Uncle Ben, both are part of the problem, not the solution.Now we’re in too deep to quit. Free money, StimPaks and record deficits until hyperinflation puts every homeowner “above” water, makes every US investment in a dead bank or automaker a winner and wipes out the Chinese and other foreign investments in US paper.

Political turmoil in China could be the unintended consequence of a de facto devaluation of the US Peso, decades of Chinese investment of export driven profits in US paper wiped out and tens of millions of Chinese jobs making gizmos for Walmart gone in a flash. How you gonna send them back to the farm after they’ve seen Shenzen?

Initially Team O’B talked up a 3rd stim as a “jobs” package, now the “S” word is back in circulation. How can they justify another stimpak while claiming the recession has ended? It must be a jobless recovery – like 1931, 32…etc

They are NOT going to stop until it all blows up. That much is clear. Forget about getting back to productive activities that actually put us on solid footing for the long term. The money grab is upon us.

Hyperinfation is the ultimate “fix”. When every home is $1M plus then everyone is whole, the foreign debt is effectively wiped out and ending COLA on Soc Sec and other “transfer” payments solves that problem too.

“The ability to pay taxes. Nothing else. The rest is all smoke and mirrors…”
“The dollar will have backing as long as people can be persuaded to pony up to pay for the assets listed above…”
–scepticus

“I’m glad you guys are finally coming around to the realization that “the full faith and credit of the United States Government” is morally equivalent to “at the point of a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile”.”
–Curmudgeon

“The War Machine will devour the State. That’s how it works.”
–MR

“@MRegan: “Will devour?” How about “IS devour-ING?””
–Jeff

We can see how it plays on the Finance side, and part– International– of the Geo-Political side, though, what happens when We look at those forces from the Domestic POV?

“On July 9, 2008, the US Congress overwhelmingly passed legislation permitting government spying, including immunity to telecommunications companies involved in secret domestic surveillance programs. With the stroke of George W. Bush’s pen, the US is now a police state by definition.
The extent of the spying program, and its larger implications, have been revealed by Mark Klein, who blew the whistle on secret domestic spying program of Bush/Cheney’s National Security Agency (NSA) and AT&T:
AT&T whistleblower: spy bill creates infrastructure for police state
The update of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, called the “FISA compromise”, or more appropriately, the “spy bill”, largely completes the triumph of the Bush/Cheney administration and a bipartisan criminal consensus. By convenient design, the FISA revision derails pending law suits filed against the Bush administration’s corporate spying partners (AT&T, Sprint Nextel, and Verizon), silences (the largely empty-to-begin-with) congressional investigations into Bush administration’s illegal domestic spying program. Presidential nominee Barack Obama and the Democrats have now moved to silence all discussion about the issue….”http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9565
“Last week’s announcement that the terrorist threat warning level has been raised in parts of New York, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C., has led to dramatic and unprecedented restrictions on the movements of citizens. Americans wishing to visit the U.S. Capitol must, for example, pass through several checkpoints and submit to police inspection of their cars and persons.
Many Americans support the new security measures because they claim to feel safer when the government issues terror alerts and fills the streets with militarized police forces. As one tourist interviewed this week said, “It makes me feel comfortable to know that everything is being checked.” It is ironic that tourists coming to Washington to celebrate the freedoms embodied in the Declaration of Independence are so eager to give up those freedoms with no questions asked.

Freedom is not defined by safety. Freedom is defined by the ability of citizens to live without government interference…”http://antiwar.com/paul/?articleid=3274
“…American citizens had assumed that the Patriot Act and the FBI Guidelines assured that only foreign aliens could be placed in military detention centers, unprotected by the U.S. constitution. But on June 10, 2002, an American citizen was declared by Bush, without due process, to be an “enemy combatant” and to have no constitutional protections. This American citizen was thrown into a naval brig in South Carolina….”
“..Of course, Abdullah al Muhajir, a U.S. citizen also known as Jose Padilla, has been branded a “known terrorist” with ties to al Qaeda, so almost no one is speaking out against this abrogation of constitutional procedures. A reputed “terrorist” who is said to have been building a “dirty bomb,” Padilla, a New York-born man of Puerto Rican descent, is assumed to be beyond the pale, not worthy of judicial prerogatives. But what happens when Bush or the FBI brands you as a “terrorist” because you appear to be a dissenter, denying you your constitutional rights as a U.S. citizen?
Attorney General Ashcroft explicitly stated that terrorists do not deserve constitutional protections…”http://www.hermes-press.com/police_state.htm

When the ‘Money’ is Nothing, it ain’t about ‘the Money’..
–sorry, for the Long Post.

I too was floored by the stupidity and/or laziness of people who would watch commercials on a DVR recorded show. There’s no way I’ll watch commercials anymore. TIVO is the greatest thing since sliced bread, although my TV watching time is quite limited compared to the average citizen.

But at the same time I’m happy to hear it. If advertisers can continue to make money even with the DVR revolution because so many people are willing to watch commercials anyway, that’s a win for me too. It just means that they don’t have to find more intrusive and harder to avoid advertising strategies that would be detrimental to my quality of life and/or cost me something. So keep watching those commercials sheeple!

@Onlooker 9:10pm — I remember reading somewhere that TIVO had filed for a Patent that would detect someone fast forwarding over commercials and show “still” or slow scan commercials instead — thereby not only torturing you, but generating extra revenue by selling multiple adverts in the same space.

If that isn’t pure evil (TV screens with adverts at the gas pumps is a close second), I don’t know what is!

I just saw that the gold price is up big this evening cuz it was announced that India’s Central Bank bought $6.7 worth of gold from the IMF. For this to happen with gold trading near its all-time high is a very bullish sign in my opinion

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About Barry Ritholtz

Ritholtz has been observing capital markets with a critical eye for 20 years. With a background in math & sciences and a law school degree, he is not your typical Wall St. persona. He left Law for Finance, working as a trader, researcher and strategist before graduating to asset managementRead More...

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